Tuesday, July 10, 2012

What’s in a name?

In the lead up to the birth of our son
Nathan, the subject of names became an important one for us. We wanted to be
sure that we gave him a good name. We’d actually had a names list going well
before Nathan came along, one that followed some general guidelines about what
to avoid.

Make sure that the name when taken
together doesn’t form a phrase or word. This can be tricky when your family
name is a common verb. While Noah was never on our list, you never want to give
a kid a name that sounds like he “No-a read!” The same thing goes for initials.
While Thomas always had top spot in the list of middle names, Oliver (a family
name) was a bit further down and one Elaine’s sister really liked. But again
you don’t really want to give your son the initials N. O. Read.

But unfortunate naming decisions aside,
names are important. Indeed in the world Bible they are incredibly important.
At significant points in the faith journeys of key people they are given new
names. Abram and Sarai become Abraham and Sarah; Jacob becomes Israel; Simon
becomes Peter. The names of several of the prophets suggest that they
deliberately chose names to suit their calling from God. The great Hebrew
prophet from the book of Kings who worked tirelessly to oppose foreign gods in
Israel is known to us by the name Elijah. The full Hebrew of this name is
El-i-yahu, or “Yahweh is (my) God.”

My parents took great care in choosing
my name when I was born. They chose to avoid family names and picked Biblical
names with meanings they found significant. This was in part due to the
difficult childhoods they had both had. They wanted to give me a clean slate, a
name that belonged only to me. The name they settled on was John Timothy, one
that is full of spiritual and theological meaning.

John comes from the Hebrew name Yohanan,
which means “Yahweh is gracious.” Timothy is a Greek name meaning “He who
honours God.” I only really began to reflect on my name after I had gone
through my struggles of faith in my early 20s, and was in the process of studying
to become a minister. One thing I know about myself is that I work very hard to
live up to my own standards, and that I can be very hard on myself. I give
grace to others, but rarely to myself.

As Protestant Christian I believe that
we are saved and reconciled to God by his grace alone, it’s a free gift and we do
not have to earn it. We are then called to respond to this grace by living
lives that honour God. But as much as I have always believed this
intellectually, I have found it difficult live out of. So often I live my life
as if I have to earn God’s love, and make myself acceptable to him. Yet from
the very start, my parents gave me a name to remind me that it’s the other way
around. Grace comes first. Only then do we work to honour him out of gratitude
and the freedom that God’s grace gives us. Grace comes first. John, and then
Timothy.

So as our son’s birth approached I
thought very carefully about the short list of names we had drawn up, and
especially the leading candidate: Nathan Thomas. Nathan is another Hebrew name,
which simply means “He has given”, or more simply put “Gift.” It is at the root
of other Hebrew names like Jonathan (Yahweh’s gift) and Nathaniel (Gift of
God).

We simply liked the simplicity of the
name by itself, but as I thought about it I realized that standing on its own the
name Nathan asks a question: “If your life is a gift then who is the giver?”
For Elaine and I there is only one answer to that question, but such an open
ended question is one that many other children of Nathan’s generation will be
asking as they grow up in a culture that is no longer defined by the religious
institutions of the Christian faith.

Thomas for me was a family name of some
significance. It belonged to my great-grandfather Thomas Oliver Nixon, who was
one of the few nurturing influences in my dad’s early life (Thomas is also one
of my dad’s middle names). But I was also drawn to it because of the Thomas we
meet in the Gospel of John. Thomas has been characterized as a doubter, yet
people often forget that in the end he makes the most profound statement of
faith in the gospel when he sees Jesus risen for himself, saying: “My Lord and
my God!”

I have struggled with faith and with
trusting God, and only came to trust him as a result of the profound spiritual
experiences he gave me. I had to experience in order to trust. Nathan has been
born into a time and place where faith is difficult, an age when people more
than anything want to directly experience God for themselves rather than to
hear about him from others. It is my prayer that God will make himself known to
our son, so that he too can struggle and come to a solid faith that can endure
in these times.

Thomas as a name also has a specific
meaning, and one that is particularly significant for my wife Elaine. Thomas
comes from the Aramaic language spoken by Jesus and his disciples, and means
“Twin.” If you want to know why this is significant you’ll need to speak to
her, but it certainly cinched Thomas as a middle name when she told me.

When he was finally born it was clear
that our little boy is a Nathan Thomas. I pray that his names may be as helpful
to him as mine have been for me.

Norval Presbyterian

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"Our Fathers laboured and we have entered into their labours. It was their desire to build to the Glory of God a Church that would prove to be a House of Prayer and Sanctuary for the oppressed. This they succeeded in accomplishing. Let us continue to Serve the God of our Fathers and make the extension of the Kingdom of His Son our chief delight and God will continue to bless us, as He has blessed those who have 'entered into rest'."